Picking Kale in the Gale !

 

                       Picking kale in the gale !  It's blowy here today .

                         Sprouts too for Christmas  .

Things are still going in the shed ...not a very good pic .....

.....but over at the back of the bench , the courgettes are still flowering and some with fruit coming .

                                    I cut that one . It;s a beauty !

My lettuces are the long leafed Romaine ones .  I was thinking that they have grown a bit elongated and the reason why has only just come to my mind . I had forgotten to fix up the foil survival blanket . 

Also on my to do list - dig up the remaining potatoes that I hadn't been able to take because of the huge wasp nest near by . Wasp nest has now gone very quiet .

There are also a couple of nice parsnips that I need to take up . They can wait for a little while longer .

The weather is rainy and windy , but not too extreme . Hopefully it will bring down the rest of the leaves that I want to use for mulching . 

 This afternoon I am sitting by the fire doing some sewing . 

I make miniature patchwork quilts for antique dolls house dolls . Sometimes the dolls help me !

                                                           It's very calming .

Usually this is calming for me , but not long ago I had my handbag stolen while at the dentist. I had packed it full of some of my miniature dolls house patchwork quilt stuff ,books, scissors , needles and fabric scraps and other tiny precious needlework items . I suffer with PTSD . I took it to do , while nervously waiting in the waiting room to calm my nerves . It was a little leather Fat Face bag . Nothing really worth very much in it and I don't think there was any money in it , but  , sigh , the whole thing really , really upset me . Actually the scissors were precious to me for the memories they held   . Yes , I was very upset at the thought that someone could do that .  

PTSD turned this "being upset" into stomach churning " grieving "  .

So now when I sit down to do my calming patchwork , horrible thoughts and feelings come back to me and I can't do it . So I'm trying to do some embroidery instead . 

If you haven't had PTSD then you will have no idea in a million years how cruel it is and I doubt anyone could explain it to you .  Sending a great big hug to you out there if you have it .

Anyway ....... phew...hard talking about it too ! Don't worry , I don't talk about it very often .

  I topped up the bird feeders . 

Enjoyed watching my Blackbird taking a splash . On such a cold rainy day too !

                 He didn't seem to care .

I look out to watch the birds on the feeding station outside my kitchen window while I'm doing the washing up .

He had a feast on the fat-balls after his bath . Goodness me he goes through these fat-balls ! 

I haven't seen the Squirrels for ages now . I hope they come back soon, they give me so much joy !

I hope no one has been cruel .

A charm of Gold-finches came to delight me on the Evening Primrose seed pods .

That's all for now  . Hope you're having a nice weekend . love Debbie x

Sweet Peas and Tarantulas !

 Such a beautiful morning of sunshine and showers . We decided it was a walk across the cliffs kind of a morning .

There's the Marconi Monument and you can  just see St Michael's Mount in the distance .

Other side of the rainbow ...I couldn't get it all in !

There were a few spit spots of rain , but fortunately for us , those black clouds were blowing the other way .

However we made our walk a brisk one today as there were more squalls coming in . 

This one was fast approaching !

We had our waterproofs on . We'd have been o.k. We don't mind a bit of rain .

We saw the Kestrel again , but no Choughs today .

When we got back home the sun was shining and it felt quite warm . I decided to give my Tarantula Fern a drink . It had become a bit dry hanging in the porch. The porch faces South and it can get quite hot in there . This birdbath is the perfect place for it to revive .

           It's proper name is Davallia tyermannii /Humata tyamannii 

It has these long furry rhizome's that creep and hang over the edge of the pot  looking for all the world like the legs of a Tarantula or Bird Eating Spider waiting to pounce from out of the undergrowth .

                                           Eeek !

   Robin is not happy about it !

 Hey ! It's time to sow Sweet Peas ! ( note - we are in Cornwall as far South as you can be in England .It works for me here ! I did once grow some fabulous Sweet Peas through a Privet Hedge in Kent , where it does get considerably colder , but I have no guarantees . ) 

Anyway .Yes ! What I wanted to say was , that it is time to sow some Sweet Pea seeds .

If you have never done it this way , get yourself a little packet of Sweet Pea seeds , just a cheap little packet of seeds and have a go ! 

 I like to make a note of when I do this and which variety . 

There are some really beautiful varieties to choose from . This is what I am growing this time .

The "Spencer Mix " should be a good fragrant one and the "Royal Family Mix " I think are a good colourful mix .

I pulled out the African Marigolds which were still flowering and a couple of Dahlias from this tub .

The African Marigolds I have potted up and are in the greenhouse to enjoy them for a bit longer .

 The Dahlias have gone into their undercover storage place for the Winter 

 I put a layer of spent compost (from the tomatoes) over the top , sprinkled over the Sweet Pea seeds and another layer of compost . 

I used six of my now very tatty bamboo canes to make a wigwam .

Watered them in , although there is more rain coming too .

Found a piece of fleece to wrap around it all and lashed it all around with string . 

When the Sweet Peas come up they are in more danger of the wind snapping them than of the cold , so I make sure that the fleece is really well tied on and I will keep checking on that as we go through the Winter .

I do this every year . It works for me . 

Hopefully they will be germinating by Christmas .

A few inches tall by the middle of January .

By next April I will be thinking of taking off the fleece .

It is just so nice to have Sweet Peas growing away over the Winter . I think they grow stronger when grown this way .

It is something joyful and fragrant to look forward to . 

We'll sow another lot in the Spring , but I don't think they are quite so good as the Autumn sown ones and ....

 I'll be busy sowing vegetables by then .

                                                                       

Very short walk on the beach

 There was another little break in the wild weather . So we went down to the beach .

Waterfalls  in the cliffs .

No one in the sea today .

We had the beach pretty much all to ourselves .

I found a lonely heart .

Stood and watched the waves .

Then ran back to the car as the sky turned very dark again .

The rain lashed down and we laughed as we just made it back in time !

                            Me and my lonely heart in the car .

                                  Now he has me ..and lots of new friends  🤍

PSB

 O.K so there was a good break in the weather this morning and I took advantage of it and tidied up the PSB .

Look at all those weeds and grass !

"What's PSB ?" I hear some of you ask . It's Purple Sprouting Broccoli . These will be ready to pick in the Spring . They just need a bit of tender loving care right now . 

We had quite a windy and rainy night and now the weeds will be easy to pull out .

Those are the thick plastic grow bags that I used to grow my tomatoes in .I'm going to put this spent compost around these PSB plants . It will give them a bit more stability during the winter storms and the gales that we get here . I can re-use these grow bags , they've been  great for me .Being so flexible and squishy meant I could squeeze in more tomato ,cucumber and pepper plants into the greenhouse .

I also had to get flexible and squishy to get inside this bed to weed it ! 

This old compost will also help to improve the earth . The worms will do the next bit , taking it deep down .

It is such a lovely sunny morning , but the sky is growing darker and more rain and gales coming  for about 11am . So I really had to force myself to crack on with it .

The two Courgette plants that I saved up the shed are growing in a couple of these bags .

So I,m going to fold them up and put them away in the shed , to use again next year .

Pulling off any yellowing leaves  and clearing away weeds , rubbishy stuff and slugs from around the base of the plants . Let in more light and fresh air .

No sign of any green , black or white flies thank-goodness . 

Ugh ...I really don't like yellowing brassica leaves !

I found a nice lot of curly kale that I'd forgotten about .

I got this bed covered up again . Pigeons can be a bit cheeky around here and they love brassicas !

Kernow Weather Team forecast rain at 11 am and bang on the dot the sky darkened .

I just had time to sort out the little problem in the onion bed .

Rabbits have been a nibbling ! Thankfully because I put these grids over the little onion sets , the rabbits have only nibbled as far as the grid . So I should be able to save them by putting a cloche over them .

I think I,ll have to fix up some chicken wire around this bed again  but I'm not doing it today .

Interestingly , they didn't nibble the garlic . Scared of the luminous lizard maybe !

Just time to get my pet carnivorous plant into the shed to over winter . This will be it's third winter . 

If I can get it through a fourth winter , then I might try planting it out into the garden .

                           O.k . Time for Elevenses !

                                ......... and the rain again !